The British Invasion is a term referring to a group of British writers who rose to prominence in the late 1980s while working on American comic books. The movement was most strongly associated with Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, and Peter Milligan, all writers who had previously worked on the British comic anthology series 2000 AD and who were subsequently recruited by DC Comics. These writers were seen as having a new and different sensibility to their predecessors in American comics.

Characteristics of the British Invasion included a greater sensitivity to language, more mature storylines, and a move away from the superhero genre. The invasion led DC Comics to create the Vertigo imprint to target the mature audiences of these writers.

While some "British" writers such as Chris Claremont (Claremont was born in England but spent all of his adult life in the United States) had already worked for American comic companies prior to Alan Moore, they are not associated with the British Invasion. One of the chief characteristics of the British Invasion group of writers that set them apart from others was their greater sensitivity to language. Before the British Invasions, writers in the American comic book industry were known as "ace storytellers but mediocre wordsmiths" because the "actual text" of their comic books were generally subordinate to the plot and storytelling.[3] With his work on Swamp Thing, Alan Moore revolutionised the American comic book industry through his use of "precise, naturalistic dialogue."[3] Another characteristic of the British Invasion was a move away from the superhero genre, although in this regard Grant Morrison was an exception.[3]